Lunar base for Mars missions

The advantages of using the Moon as an initial base for launching direct moon-Mars missions were studied. It was observed that a total launch vehicle mass of 459,146 kg reached a synchronous Mars orbit with a 64,639 kilogram (kg) payload. It was also observed that using direct Earth-Mars transfer, half of the initial mass was needed to escape from the Earth gravity field, and 30 missions of the Ariane 5 launcher were required to obtained the same payload for synchronous Mars orbit. It was found that transfer to Mars via the moon was very advantageous with respect to classical direct Earth-Mars missions and also provided a good opportunity for future Mars exploration.